1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a buckle, and more particularly to a buckle which has male and female members respectively attached to a terminal end of each belt or strap for a rucksack, a bag, clothing, and the like, and releasably coupled to each other so as to connect the belts or the straps to each other, while easily adjusting the length of the belt or the strap.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Generally, “buckles” refer to coupling members which have a pair of male and female members attached to an end of a belt or a strap for a rucksack or a bag so as to connect the belt or the strap to another one as described above, which are integrally formed of a synthetic resin material and elastically coupled to each other.
The buckles can be classified into an open type buckle in which a female member has slots, and a non-open type buckle in which a female member has no slot, according to their use, with respect to products such as rucksacks, bags, and clothes, etc. In the open type buckle 300, both engaging legs 312 of a male member 310 are inserted into a chamber 322 of a female member 320 and coupled to slots 324 opened at both sides of the female member 320, as shown in FIG. 1. On the other hand, in order to release the male member 310 from the female member 320, the engaging legs 312 coupled to the slots 324 are pressed, so that the male member 310 is removed from the female member 320.
On the other hand, in the non-open type buckle 200, an engaging portion at a leading end of a male member is inserted into a body of a female member and then coupled to an engaging portion formed in the female member. In order to release the male member from the female member, pressed means formed on an exterior of the female member is pressed, so that the male member is removed from the female member.
Specifically, in the open type buckle, the engaging legs of the male member coupled to the slots 324 of the female member are pressed so that the male member is released from the female member. On the other hand, in the non-open type buckle 200, since the female member has no open slot, a certain portion of the exterior of the female member is pressed so that the male member is removed from the female member, in order to release the male member from the female member.
These buckles classified as described above have different functions respectively, according to their use and user's necessity. Among the non-open type buckles 200, a conventional buckle having the most general shape will be described with reference to accompanying drawings. FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the non-open type buckle 200 according to the conventional art, FIG. 3A is a sectional view of the buckle, taken along a line A-A′ in FIG. 2, and FIG. 3B is a sectional view of the buckle, taken along a line B-B′ in FIG. 2. This buckle includes the female member 220 and the male member 250 as described above.
As shown in FIGS. 2 to 3B, the female member 220 has the chamber 221 of which a leading end is opened, and a pressing portion 223 formed on an upper plate 222 thereof. The pressing portion 223 has three surfaces separated from the upper plate 222, of which one remaining surface is integrally formed with the upper plate 222 and has a groove 224. A guide element 225 for an engaging legs is formed below the pressing portion 223 at a desired distance from the pressing portion 223, of which leading end has a latching jaw 226 of the female member 220 in order to latch a latching portion 253 of the male member 250.
The male member 250 has engaging legs 251 protruding from a side of a body of the male member 250, of which a leading end 252 has a rotated letter L shape. The lower end of the rotated letter L shaped leading end 252 is engaged with and coupled to the latching jaw 226 of the female member 220. An elastic plate 254 for releasing the male member 250 is formed between the engaging legs 251 of the male member 250, and is located over the guide element 225 of the female member 220 when the male member 250 is coupled to the female member 220.
With the coupling of the conventional non-open type buckle formed as described above, when the pair of engaging legs 251 formed on a side of the male member 250 is inserted into the chamber 221 through the leading end of the female member 220, the latching portion 253 formed at the lower surface of the leading end of the engaging legs 251 in the female member 220 slides along the surface of the guide element 225 of the female member 220 for the latching legs and is inserted into the female member 220, so as to face and engage with the latching jaw 226 formed at the leading end of the guide element 225 of the female member 220.
Then, in order to release the buckle, while the pressing portion 223 which is formed at an upper portion of the female member 220, is pressed, the elastic plate 254 for releasing the male member 250 causes the latching jaw 226 of the female member 220 to become detached from the latching portion 253 of the male member 250, so that the male and female members 250 and 220 can be separated from each other.
However, the non-open type buckle 200 according to the conventional art as described above, has a structure in which latching elements formed on the male and female members respectively, i.e. the latching jaw 226 of the female member 220 an the latching portion 253 of the male member 250 are coupled at a deep inside of the female member 220, thereby making it difficult to couple the engaging legs 251 to the chamber 221 of the female member 220. In addition, the coupling strength thereof may be low, thereby causing an accident. Further, because the pressing portion 223 formed on the upper plate 222 of the female member 220 has the three surfaces separated from the upper plate 222 while the male member 250 is also divided into the engaging legs 251 and the elastic plate 254, the total strength of the buckle is extremely low, which may cause the buckle to be easily damaged or broken while it is used for long time.
Further, in the non-open type buckle 200 described above, when a user presses the pressing portion 223 of the female member 220, the elastic plate 254 of the male member 250 located below the pressing portion 223 secondarily presses the elastic plate 254 of the female member 250 so as to release the respective members. As described above, since the buckle 200 has the complicated structure, it is difficult to couple and released the male member to and from the female member, and it is possible that the manufacturing cost of the buckle increases.